Baker Hughes has built a clear and measurable framework for implementing a company-wide and industry-wide clean energy transition as the global oil and gas industry faces pressure to reduce carbon emissions to their barest minimum.

In its 2020 Report on Corporate Responsibility earlier this year, the corporation reaffirmed its support for the Paris Climate Agreement while also laying out its approach for attaining net-zero carbon emissions across Scopes 1 and 2 by 2050.

The strategy is divided into nine core components, each of which focuses on defining and operationalizing corporate transformation activities, creating a complete, sustainable supply-chain architecture, and continuing to innovate and promote low-carbon technology research and development.

The company identified eight strategic decarbonization pathways, split into three primary scopes.

• Scopes 1 and 2 are to improve internal processes in the short- to medium-term, from reducing emissions from the company’s own manufacturing, to increasing the proportion of renewable energy used in its electricity mix, to increasing electrification and low-carbon fueling of Baker Hughes’ vehicles and vessel fleet.
• Scope 3 is to address external processes in the long-term, including reducing emissions from supply chain and sourcing activity, reducing emissions from third-party waste treatment and disposal; and reducing downstream emissions from customer use of Baker Hughes’ products and services.

Baker Hughes claims that across Scopes 1 and 2, it reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 15% in 2020.

Carbon capture and storage and hydrogen are two emerging technologies at the centre of the global energy transition and efforts to reduce CO2 emissions from heavy-emitting industries; the company invested $595 million in research and development, and it was awarded over 3,000 patents related to these technologies. Under the umbrella of its business strategy, the corporation also increased its low-carbon technology portfolio and targeted net-zero investments in the same year.

The Chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes, Lorenzo Simonello, said: “Last year was a period of challenge and change for the global business community, and the business case for sustainability as a core strategic focus has never been clearer.”

“Baker Hughes is guided by our corporate purpose and deeply committed to operating responsibly and sustainably – challenging ourselves to perform at the level of the most responsible companies in the world, not just in our industry.”

Baker Hughes is one of several multinational operators and service providers that have produced a precise roadmap to net-zero emissions in the last 24 months, signalling the oil and gas industry’s growing resolve to increase accountability and achieve meaningful reductions in carbon emissions.